But Nothing Compares to the Pain
by fictionbooksaremylife
Summary: Katniss' mom has resulted to drinking after the mine explosion and has taken her anger out on Katniss. Everything from whipping to beatings with burning frying pans. But the pain is too much… and the only one who can save her is none other than Peeta Mellark. *Some Characters are OOC*
1. Chapter 1

But Nothing Compares to the Pain

Chapter 1

**Summary: Katniss' mom has resulted to drinking after the mine explosion and has taken her anger out on Katniss. But the pain is too much… and the only one who can save her is none other than Peeta Mellark. *Some Characters are OOC***

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games**

**Katniss' POV**

**P**ain. Pain is all I ever feel. Every day… there's more pain than the day before.

I stumble across the cold hard pavement as the heavy rain slams dangerously down to the ground around me. I squeeze my eyes tightly closed, trying… just trying to rid the pain for once. I could feel weakness slowly overcoming my body. But that wasn't unusual for those of us from the Seam…. For those of us who usually eat only boiled water and mint leaves most days of the week. My body shook wildly from my never ending hunger but I had to keep running. The excruciating pain increased with every pounding step against the cheap wet asphalt.

_-Flashback-_

_I grinned happily as I felt the weight in my game bag. With a haul of one turkey, two squirrels and a rabbit, I would actually get to have a somewhat decent meal tonight. I even managed to pick a pint of semi-fresh strawberries. Strawberries were are to come by in the Seam ever since the old peacekeeper (who is now dead) told the Capitol about our abundant supply of fresh strawberries. When the Capitol heard about this they bombed all of the strawberry patches. Bombed it just like they do with everything else. Just like District 13. I mean, come on guys! Do you really need to bomb an innocent bush? _

_I entered the stuffy, smoke filled abandoned warehouse. Better known as the 'Hob' to us traders. Trading is my life. If I don't trade… I don't survive. If I don't trade… Prim doesn't survive. Prim… poor week frail little Prim. Prim, with her bony figure and the two blond braids that fly behind her when she runs around. Prim with her tail shirt that always stick out like a little duck. Her rare smile that I bet guys would fight over once she gets older. Her rare smile that I have grown to love but haven't seen since the mine explosion. The explosion that killed our father. The explosion that killed her smile. When I was younger, Father would take us to the meadow. While he hunted, Prim and I would sit in the grass, picking flowers and singing. Then… and only then would I see her smiling. Once the explosion killed almost half of District 12's miners, my life drastically changed. I know that it sounds extremely cheesy… but it's true. Every day when I came home from school, I had to deal with my mother. My selfish witch of a mother who resulted to alcoholism after my father's death. She drank herself away all the time to the point where she was known as 'the town drunk' along with Haymitch. When Haymitch found out that she loved alcohol just as much as him he somehow fell in love with that piece of trash and now she spends most of her time splitting a bottle of vodka with the dirt bag. One day she drank too much and eventually got alcohol poisoning. It's amazing that she's still living. But then again Haymitch had the Capitol ship in some expensive medications for her. But me… I wished she just would have just shut up and died. No matter how harsh that sounded._

"_Hello Miss Everdeen" Greasy Sae cackled, grinning so wide that you could see her crack, yellow stained teeth. I scrunched up my face at the thought and whipped the wild turkey from my dark, ripped game bag. Her eyes went wide and she gave another creepy grin. "Well Everdeen… that is one mighty fine catch…"_

_I nodded silently and quickly finished the trade before she could creep me out any further._

_I walked out of the Hob and swiftly worked my way over to the Mellark's bakery. Maybe Peeta was working. I thought as a small smile crept onto my Seam pale cheeks. I jumped up the stone steps that led to the back door. I rasped on the door twice, stepping back away from the door._

_A few seconds later the pounding of steps coming closer could be heard. Please be Peeta. I begged. Please be Peeta._

_The bakery door opened, revealing Mrs. Mellark smiling politely. "Oh" she said happily. "You must be Katniss"_

_A small lump in my throat started to form. At school I always heard stories about her being an evil witch and everything. "Yep…" I said nervously. "T-That's me… um not to be nosy or anything… umm… h-how do y-you know… who I am?"_

"_Oh" she smiled once again. "Peeta talks about you quite frequently." She lightly chuckled. Oh God… Peeta talks about me. Probably about how poor and weak- _

"_Good things of course" she said reassuringly._

_I gulped. Yeah well that doesn't really help with anything. _

"_Did you come by to trade?"_

"_Yes Ma'am" I replied. _

"_I'm sorry… my husband isn't here he need to run some errands. I don't know how you guys trade or anything but I'm sure Peeta would be more than happy to help you" she gave a cheeky smile._

_Immediately my stomach filled with butterflies. No… more like attacked but fluttering insects. "Yeah… uh… that would be great… or I can come back later."_

"_No no… come right on in. I think a fresh batch of cookies just came out of the oven."_

_Yeah they're probably poisoned._

"_Katniss… why are you glaring at the ground?"_

_I pulled myself out of my thoughts and blinked a few times. "Oh sorry… I was thinking."_

"_Well come on in!" she grinned, opened the door wide enough for me to slip through. Knowing how skinny I am, the door didn't have to be opened very much. I was at the point where I could count each of my bony ribs. Slowly, I followed Mrs. Mellark into the warm and heavenly smelling bakery. "Peeta!" she called. I heard some rustling and movement in the kitchen but looked over to the door when the small bell rang as Mr. Undersee walked in. "I'll see you later Katniss" she said sweetly before hurrying off to help the customer._

_A few seconds later, Peeta emerged from the kitchen and walked over to the counter. "Yes mom?"_

"_Oh there you are Peeta!" she grinned. "We have someone here that needs your service." She said, pointing over her shoulder and into the direction I was standing. Peeta turned to face me for the first time since I walked into the bakery. _

_His eyes immediately lit up when he saw me standing there. His mother smirked and went back to helping the customer._

"_Here come into the kitchen" he smiled, leading me into the crowded but organized kitchen. He leaned against the flour covered counter, taking in my body by trailing his eyes slowly up and down my small figure. I blushed under his gaze and turned away, trying to hid it. "It's great to see you Katniss. It's been a while."_

_I giggled. "Peeta… you saw me at school two days ago."_

_He sighed. "I know… but that's a long time."_

_I rolled my eyes and took in his appearance. He was wearing white pants and a white shirt that hugged his body and was tight on his arms, his biceps straining underneath. He had a white apron that went around his waist. His grinning face was covered in flour. I tried to contain my small fit of laughter but failed miserably._

"_What?" he questioned innocently._

"_Do you by any chance have a cloth?"_

_He nodded and walked over to the sink, grabbing one and tossed it to me. Swiftly, I caught it and walked over to the sink where he was standing. "Sit" I muttered, gesturing to the counter. He rose an eyebrow and jumped up onto the counter. I ran the cloth under the water and cautiously brought it to his left cheek. Slowly I wiped away all of the flour away from his face._

"_What was it?"_

_I smirked. "Your face was covered in flour."_

"_Hmm… well maybe I should cover my face with flour more often." he grinned._

_I rolled my eyes and smacked him across the face with the wet cloth. Even though it was barely even a 'slap' he still complained. "Ow!" he whined, with a hint of flirt in his voice._

"_Deal with it" I grinned._

_X.x.X.x.X_

_I jumped up the stairs to my house and pushed to squeaky old door opened. "Mom!" I yelled into the house. "I'm home!" _

"_Hey sweetie" she said in a sickening sweet voice._

_Oh God... when she talks like that usually it leads to something bad..._

"_I'm glad you're finally home" _

_I nodded into the air and set my game bag down on the kitchen table. She walked into the kitchen with an evil smirk plastered to her face. My eyes widened in horror as I saw what was in her hand. She was tightly gripping a red hot frying pan in her hands and started on making her way towards me. "Mom… please don't" I whispered. I could already feel the tears forming. I turned to run but she grabbed my wrist and dragged me upstairs. The bathroom door banged open and she threw me into the bath tub. I tripped over the side and my jaw slammed into the wall, blood flying everywhere. "Get up you filthy piece of trash" she hissed. Reluctantly, I followed her orders and shakily stood up. She swung her arm back and slammed the frying pan into the side of my face. Searing pain erupted my cheeks and warm, sticky blood pooled around my ankles. The pain increased immensely as she continuously banged my head with the burning metal. _

"_Please!" I cried. "Stop!"_

"_Shut up!" she screamed, pulling out a roll of duct tape. Before I knew it she slapped the tape over my mouth and slammed be into the wall, blood covering my vision once again._

_-End of flashback-_

The pain in my skull brought me back to reality as I stumbled over to the Mellark's bakery. Another wave of excruciating pain washed over me. "Ahh!" I cried and fell over, hitting my head on the wet asphalt which only reopened my wound. I was only a few yards away from the door but the pain was too much. The door opened and a moving figure started making its way towards my useless body. I tried to look up at the person but all I saw was blood. I was scooped up into someone's arms and the person rubbed the wet blood from my eyes. I was in the arms of Peeta Mellark, I was looking into his soft dark comforting eyes… but nothing compared to the pain.

**AN: Well I hope you guys liked chapter one. Feel free to give me feedback. Sorry for spelling or grammar errors, I don't have time right now to fix anything I just quickly skimmed through. REVIEW please! :) CHAPTER SUMMARY IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.**


	2. Chapter 2

But Nothing Compares to the Pain

Chapter 2

**AN: Sorry for the errors in chapter 1… but who cares? Here's chapter 2! Enjoy.**

**Katniss' POV (THIS IS A RAPIDLY CHANGING DREAM… she passed out at the end of chapter 1)**

"_Katniss?" Prim whispered into the chilled night air._

"_Yeah Prim?" I replied, snuggling deeper under my ripped sheet that topped my bed made of hay._

"_Promise you'll never leave me?"_

_I nodded into the darkness. "Yeah Prim… I promise"_

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_Hey Catnip" Gale said as I walked towards him. I grabbed my bow and quiver out of the hallow log and rushed over to where he was delicately setting up a snare with ease. "How have you been?"_

_I shrugged. "It's been better"_

"_My mother is pregnant" he whispered._

_I gulped. Usually people would find this a beautiful thing, but Gale and I knew better. We both knew that it was just another mouth to feed. It was hard enough feeding my family of three. "Well" I squeaked. "That's nice"_

_Gale shook his head. "Katniss… you know what another baby means"_

"_I know Gale" I sighed. "I know."_

"_What about you?" he questioned. _

_I cocked my head to the side. "Well what about me?"_

"_Have you ever thought of having children?"_

_Usually this wasn't a topic that we discussed. He asked me this question a few years ago and we never brought the topic back sense. "Gale you know that I can't… I mean I can, I just don't ever want to. I don't even want to get married."_

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_We could do it you know…" Gale said, looking off in the distance towards the far away mountains._

"_Do what?" I asked, even though I had an idea about what he was about to say._

"_You know… run off… live in the woods."_

_I exhaled. We both knew that we couldn't do that. We both had families to feed and we couldn't risk being caught. "They'd catch us" I replied softly, picking at a blade of grass._

"_Well maybe not."_

_I raised my head and looked over at his serious face. "We wouldn't make it five miles" I whispered_

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_Seam Slut!" my mother yelled._

_I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to keep the tears in._

_X.x.X.x.X_

_My hand quickly rose to my now stinging cheek. I ducked as a chair flew over my head, nearly hitting me. "Mom!" I screamed. "Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" I cried as a whiskey bottle was thrown across the room, smashing into the wall. _

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_Does anybody know the Valley Song?" The music teacher asked. _

_Before I knew it, my hand had shot straight up into the air. _

"_Katniss" she smiled. "Come up here" she called, beckoning me to the front. Reluctantly, I stood up and slowly walked to the front of the room. "Stand on the stool" she said as I stood up on the three legged stool. I took a deep, shaky breath and then let the room fill with my voice._

"_Down in the valley the valley so low_

_Hang your head over, hear the wind blow_

_Hear the wind blow, dear, hear the wind blow;_

_Hang your head over, hear the wind blow._

_Roses love sunshine, violets love dew,_

_Angels in Heaven know I love you,_

_Know I love you, dear, know I love you,_

_Angels in Heaven know I love you._

_Build me a castle, forty feet high;_

_So I can see her as she rides by,_

_As she rides by, dear, as she rides by,_

_So I can see her as she rides by._

_Roses love sunshine, violets love dew,_

_Angels in Heaven know I love you,_

_Know I love you, dear, know I love you,_

_Angels in Heaven know I love you."_

_The class erupted in applause and my attention locked with Peeta's who was sitting at his desk grinning like an idiot._

_X.x.X.x.X._

"_Prim!" I screamed. "Prim!" I yelled into the pitch black darkness._

_X.x.X.x.X._

_My eyes widened in horror as I came to a running stop in front of the burning building. "Katniss!" Gale yelled. "Stay back!"_

_I gulped and let the tears wash down my face. I whipped around and ran into Gale's open arms. "The Hob… the… the Hob is on fire" I sobbed into his shoulder and all he did was squeeze my tight._

_X.x.X.x.X_

_All of the Mockingjays stopped singing and the air was filled with silence._

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_Please!" I begged. "Please stop!" I cried as I was slammed into the blood covered wall. My blood… the wall was covered in my blood._

_X.x.X.x.X_

_I looked at my reflection in the lake deep in the woods. My face was swelled from last night's beating and my scars peaked out from under my eyes. The wound on my arm was still seeping with puss and I winced as my fingers lightly traced over one of my many bruises on my pale scared legs._

_X.x.X.x.X._

"_No!" I screamed as my mother slammed Prim into the kitchen door. Her week body fell to the floor, collapsing in a small heap. I ran over lifting her into my arms, taking her upstairs to my room as my mother grabbed another bottle of vodka._

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_Katniss" Prim sobbed into my shoulder "I-I'm scared."_

_I nodded slightly, running my hands through her knotted blond hair. "I know Prim… me too"_

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_What happened to you Seam slut?" the boy behind me hissed in my ear. I turned in my seat and glared at him._

"_Did your boyfriend beat the s**t out of you or something?" the boy asked. _

"_Watch it" I growled, punching him in the face._

_X.x.X.x.X_

"_No!" I screamed and threw myself into the sea of people. I pushed myself to the front but was then held back by someone with strong arms. _

"_No Katniss" the person hissed into my ear. _

_I turned and looked at the person. It was Peeta Mellark. Peeta brought me into a strong hug as the mine behind me collapsed… with my father in it. But all I could do was soak up Peeta's shirt with my tears. "It's ok Katniss" he whispered, stroking my hair._

_But we both knew that it wasn't._

_X.x.X.x.X_

"Katniss!" a voice yelled. "Wake up!"

I bolted upright, panting and covered with sweat and tears streaming down my face. "Peeta…" I whispered.

He nodded in understanding, bringing me into a hug. "I know Katniss… I know"

"Don't leave me" I whispered into his shoulder. "Please… please don't _ever_ leave me."

"Don't worry Katniss" he replied. "I won't… I promise"

I squeezed him back, afraid that if I were to let go… that I would lose him forever.

**AN: If you guys want, I can go into more detail about her flashbacks in her dream in later chapters. Hope that you guys liked this chapter please review :)**


End file.
